The Wives’ Tales of Genesis 12, 20 & 26 and the Covenants at Beer-Sheba

Abstract

H.'s article focuses on the question of the possible historical background to the three Genesis stories of patriarchal wives presented as sisters and the nature of the link between those stories and the accounts of covenant-making with which they are associated in two instances (see Gen 21:22-34 and 26:26-33). On the former point he adduces 2nd millenium Near Eastern evidence relating to the practice of dynastic marriage as a way of establishing good relations between kings in order to propose that in presenting their wives as their sisters the patriarchs are thereby signifying that the former are available for marriage by the foreign king with whom they hope to secure a peaceful relationship. Each time the attempt fails, this leading, in two cases, to negotiations between the patriarch and the foreign king that eventuate in a treaty. [Abstracted by: Christopher T. Begg.] Abstract Number: OTA16-1993-JUN-1092